Team ends season with win, prepares for LSC Championship

The women’s tennis team will head into Thursday’s Lone Star Conference Championship riding high off of a nine-game winning streak, capped off by a 6-3 win over St. Edward’s University on Sunday, April 14.

The team’s regular season record stands at 15-5, and the women are currently ranked second in the region, and 27 in the nation.

“It was a great win for us,” head coach Scott Linn said. “It was an important regional match and helps us keep our momentum heading into the conference tournament. If we stay in the top two in the region, then we get to host the regional, which is big. We have one match to get to Arizona, and that’s the key.”

According to Linn, this season has been very good for the young team consisting of only two seniors Sarita Adhikary, athletic training and art, and Kendra Casey, sports management, both of which transferred from junior colleges this season.

“I think everyone on this team pulls their weight,” Adhikary said. “The freshmen have definitely stepped up. We do try to set a good example for them and do a good job for the team.”

Freshman in accounting, Kayla Casey is Kendra’s younger sister, and has already proven to be an asset to the team, posting a 6-5 singles record and 5-2 doubles record.

“The underclassmen have responded well under pressure this year,” Linn said. “That means the seniors and juniors are doing a good job of getting them ready for the matches. The returners have done a good job of consistently getting those players ready and helping them not lose focus.”

The team got off to a hot start, winning six of their first eight matchups, however, the team found itself in the middle of a rough three-game stretch of losses during their trip to Florida in March.

The team dropped two matches, a 0-9 loss to Rollins University and a 2-7 loss to Florida Southern University. The streak didn’t end there, as it followed the team back home when they dropped a 3-6 match to Abilene Christian on March 20.

Despite the losses, Linn said he believed the matches to be a learning experience for his team.

“I think a couple of things happened when we went to Florida,” he said. “We recognized that we weren’t competing well enough, specifically, we weren’t competing well for every point.”

Linn said the teams they faced in Florida were tough because there are a good amount of tough teams in the state, stating that even the teams that don’t win a lot compete well due to the competition they face. Linn also said that the following 6-3 loss to Abilene Christian was more of a confidence-booster than a letdown.

“If you look at ACU’s scores this year, they’re number five in the nation,” Linn said. “We were right there with them. I don’t think that took away from the ladies’ confidence. I think they realized that if we turn a few matches, we could have won that match. I think they looked at all three losses as needing to compete better, but we were on the right track.”

Adhikary said she believes the losses gave the team the motivation to do better, and it was the right push to get them to start up their winning ways. Since the three losses, the team has yet to lose a match.

Although the upcoming conference championship is in the team’s sight, what’s most important to Linn and the team is they continue to develop and get better.

“We’re taking it one match at a time,” Linn said. “We want to win a conference championship this week, but if you’re not trying to learn, you’re not getting better, and I think our ladies understand that. We have a very mature group of ladies. Even though they’re underclassmen, they’re very mature and that allows us to continue to grow at a fast rate.”